What is DJ Tiësto’s Net Worth and Salary?
DJ Tiësto, also known as the “Godfather of EDM,” is a Dutch DJ with a net worth of $170 million. He is a successful DJ, producer, and musician who performs for large audiences worldwide. Tiësto has released seven studio albums and earns over $40 million annually from merchandise, album sales, licensing, and touring. He has topped “DJ Magazine’s” annual rankings as World No. 1 DJ in 2002, 2003, and 2004, and was voted “best DJ of the last 20 years” in 2013. Tiësto has received numerous accolades, including being made an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau in 2003 and coming in at #40 on a KRO broadcasting company poll of the greatest Dutch citizens.
Tiësto’s Early Years as a DJ
Tiësto, born Tijs Michiel Verwest, started DJing at school parties at the age of 14 in Breda, Netherlands. He had residencies at various clubs in the country from 1985 until 1994, including Spock in Breda where he played acid house, new beat, and Madonna songs during his late night sets on weekends.
Tiësto’s Music Career
Tiësto began his music career in 1994, releasing music on Chemo and Coolman sub-labels of Noculan Records. Later that year, he signed a record deal with Basic Beat Recordings and started releasing albums on Arny Bink’s Trashcan sub-label. Tiësto and Bink later co-founded the Guardian Angel sub-label and released the “Forbidden Paradise” series. He then released four EPs on Lightning Records sub-labels XTC and Bonzai Jumps between 1995 and 1996 and joined the sub-label DJ Yves in 1997. Tiësto and Bink left Basic Beat Recordings later that year and co-created Black Hole Recordings. Tiësto created two sub-labels of Black Hole Recordings, In Trance We Trust and SongBird.
In 1998, Tiësto teamed up with Dutch DJ Ferry Corsten for the trance duo Gouryella. Their first single, “Gouryella,” became a hit after its May 1999 release, reaching #15 on the UK Singles Chart. In 1999, Tiësto debuted his “In Search of Sunrise” series, began performing at Gatecrasher in Sheffield every month, and took part in a millennium celebration called Trance Energy 2000. Tiësto began focusing on solo work in 2001 and left Gouryella. In April 2001, he released the solo album “In My Memory” on his new Magik Muzik sub-label. His follow-up albums, “Just Be” (2004) and “Elements of Life” (2007), also went Gold in the Netherlands, and “Kaleidoscope” (2009) was certified Gold in Canada. Tiësto also released the solo albums “Kiss from the Past” (2011), “A Town Called Paradise” (2014), and “The London Sessions” (2020), and his singles “Traffic” (2003), “In the Dark” (2007), and “Jackie Chan” (2018) peaked at #2 on the Dutch Top 40 chart.
In 2002, Tiësto won a Lucky Strike Dance Award and performed on Moby’s Area2 Tour; the following year, he participated in the PlayStation 2 Dual Play tour. In May 2003, he became the first DJ to ever put on a solo concert in a stadium when he performed for a crowd of 25,000 people at the GelreDome in Arnhem. In 2004, Tiësto played a 90-minute set at the 2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, and in 2005, Amsterdam’s Madame Tussauds museum added a wax statue of the DJ. In 2006, he had to cancel several shows after landing in the hospital with chest pains; he was diagnosed with pericarditis. Tiësto received his first Grammy nomination, Best Electronic/Dance Album for “Elements of Life,” in 2007, and he released the two-disc album “Magikal Journey: The Hits Collection 1998–2008” in 2010. Tiësto has released four tour DVDs, including “Tiësto in Concert” (2004) and “Copenhagen: Elements of Life World Tour” (2008).
Tiësto’s Personal Life and Charity Work
Tiësto began a relationship with model Annika Backes in 2015, and they got engaged during their Thanksgiving celebration in the Maldives three years later. The couple tied the knot on September 21, 2019, at a resort in Utah.
Aside from his music career, Tiësto is also passionate about charity work. He performed at a fundraiser in Amsterdam in 2005 that raised funds for victims of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. He also became the Dance4Life foundation’s worldwide ambassador in 2006 and released a compilation album, “Dance (RED) Save Lives,” in 2012, which benefited the HIV/AIDS charity Product Red. In 2014, Tiësto headlined two charity events, the Thank You Festival in Washington, D.C., and the Global Citizen Festival in New York City.
Tiësto’s Impressive List of Awards and Accolades
Tiësto, a renowned DJ, has earned two Grammy nominations, winning Best Remixed Recording in 2015 for “All of Me (Tiësto’s Birthday Treatment Remix).” He has also won nine WMC Awards Miami, three ID&T Dutch DJ Awards, and three 3 FM Awards. Along with this, Tiësto has received six awards from TMF Awards Holland, seven from TMF Awards Belgium, and numerous others from MTV Europe Music Awards, World Music Awards, and DJ Awards. In 2008, “Mixmag” magazine named him the #1 DJ, and in 2011, he was awarded the title of The Best DJ of All Time. On January 14, 2017, Las Vegas County Commissioner Steve Sisolak presented Tiësto with a key to the city, naming the day “Tiësto Day.”
